Pepe aids own cause with homer
Chris Pepe gave himself all the offense he would need Tuesday night with a three-run blast in the bottom of the first inning to lead Connellsville to a 5-0 Fayette American Legion Baseball League victory over visiting Uniontown. With two outs in the bottom of the first, Nick Midlik hit consecutive batters to set the stage for Pepe. The winning pitcher responded with a shot to deep left field for a 3-0 lead.
Connellsville (6-0) added a couple of insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning on Bobby Fulton’s RBI-single and Ryan Firestone’s sacrifice fly.
Both pitchers had strong games. Pepe struck out 14, allowing four hits while walking five. Midlik struck out four and walked one while allowing six hits.
Uniontown had Pepe and Connellsville on the ropes in the top of the sixth inning when Midlik singled with one out, Josh Guittap walked and Greg Palladino singled to load the bases. Pepe bore down from there, striking out Bob Madison and getting Bill Dye to fly out.
Dye doubled for Uniontown (5-1, 7-1) while Palladino had a pair of singles.
Kasey Eutsey had a triple and single for Connellsville.
Point Marion 10, Colonial 0 – The home team was leading 4-0 when it broke the game open with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and winning pitcher Craig Hriblan did the rest for a shutout Fayette American Legion Baseball League victory.
Hriblan gave up five hits with eight strikeouts and no walks for Point Marion (4-1) as well as leading the offense with a triple and three RBIs. Josh Null and Scott Plaski both doubled and drove home two runs. Aaron Jerome also had two RBIs. Jarrod Lint smacked a double and two singles for Point Marion.
Josh Brown had a double and single for the visitors with Steve Erdely adding a pair of singles.
Fayette County League
Carmichaels 9, Hopwood 0 – Carmichaels jumped out of the gate with two runs and kept running, scoring three runs in both the third and sixth innings along with a single run in the fourth for an easy Fayette County Baseball League victory over visiting Hopwood.
Carmichaels (5-0) pounded out 11 hits, including doubles by Chris Buncic, Charlie Humes, Jeff Thompson, Wally Dittsworth and Stuart Johnson. Humes had a second extra base hit with a triple. Chris Buncic added a single while Brad Baker had a pair of singles for Carmichaels.
Brian Binder pitched six innings for the victory, striking out nine and walking none.
Wes Kisner took the loss for Hopwood, allowing six runs in four innings. Phil Gratchic had two of Hopwood’s three singles.
Bud Murphy’s 4, Mario’s 2 – Bud Murphy’s added to a 1-0 advantage with three runs in the top of the fifth inning, enough offensive support to make Nick Damico the winning pitcher in Fayette County Baseball League action.
The visitors scored the eventual winning run in the sixth after Ryan Miscik led off with a single and moved to second on a walk to Rich Means. Brian Sankovich’s ball was misplayed, allowing Miscik to score and Means to go to third. Mark Riggin singled in Means. Bud Murphy’s eventually loaded the bases for Brent Rockwell who hit a comebacker to the mound, but the throw was high to allow the third run of the inning to score.
Damico held Mario’s hitless through five innings, but the home team finally broke through with all three of its hits in the sixth. Ron Dellarose and Jim Kubina doubled to set the table for Jason Greene’s two-run single.
Bud Murphy’s improves to 4-0 while Mario’s slips to 4-2.
Waynesburg 2, Brownsville 0 – Waynesburg broke a scoreless tie with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to defeat visiting Brownsville in Fayette County Baseball League action.
Matt Imrich led off the sixth with his third single and moved to second on a walk to A.J. Curtis. Dominic Winters walked to load the bases and Chris Antonini got an RBI the easy way with a walk. J.W. Kayla drove in Curtis with a sacrifice fly.
Adam Dukate (1-2) went the first six innings to earn the win, striking out nine and walking four. Andy Patrick pitched the seventh for his first save.
Waynesburg’s Andy Greene had the lone extra base hit of the game with a triple.
Wana B Heroes 5, Redd Dawgs 3 – The visitors needed an extra inning, but the additional frame as worth the effort for a Fayette County Baseball League road victory.
Eric Darr started the final rally with a two-out walk. Colby Giles’ ball to the outfield was misplayed, allowing Darr to score and Giles to make third. Giles scored on Drew Denham’s single.
Redd Dawgs opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the first inning, but Wana B Heroes countered with a run in the second and two in the third for a 3-1 lead. The home team chipped away to tie the game with single runs in the fourth and sixth innings.
The Redd Dawgs had one last shot when Frank McLaughlin doubled, his fourth hit of the game, with two outs. Adam Sattler closed the door to preserve the win.
Sattler came on in relief of starter Alan Smodic in the sixth to pick up the win. Sattler struck out three with one walk and two hits allowed. Drew Denham went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and an RBI.
Brandon DePhillips had a pair of singles for the Redd Dawgs.